Home > 1940 - 1949 > I Married a Witch

I Married a Witch

Year - 1942
Studio - United Artists
Stars - Veronica Lake, Fredric March, Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward, Cecil Kellaway
Director - Rene Clair
Writing Credits - Thorne Smith, Norman Matson
Music - Roy Webb

Synopsis

The souls of father and daughter witches, Daniel (Cecil Kellaway) and Jennifer (Veronica Lake) emerge from an ancient oak tree where they were imprisoned since their 17th century burning at the stake. They resume human form and vow to carry out their curse of revenge against the ancestors of the Wooley family who had them condemned. Fredric March plays the modern day descendant, Jonathan Wooley, the target of the witch's revenge plot. He's not only about to be married to Estelle Masterson (Susan Hayward), but also, backed by a big newspaper tycoon, is the favorite in the Senatorial election.

Jennifer's plan is simple - she'll cast a spell on Wooley to make him fall in love with her, than ruin his life. (Actually, his spoiled fiance, Estelle, has essentially the same outlook on her future with him.) But all goes awry, when Jennifer accidentally drinks the love potion herself and genuinely falls in love with Jonathan. The story proceeds like a frantic Preston Sturges farce, with Jennifer's obsessive attraction to Wooley, the legendary Robert Benchley as Wooley's campaign manager, desperately trying to save Wooley's clean image with the voters, and Jennifer's father determined to carry out the curse, but rendered helpless by alcohol.

Trailer

I Married a Witch is one of several breezy, comic fantasies that were popular in the 1940s, including Topper, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, and Rene Clair's own It Happened Tomorrow and The Ghost Goes West.